1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a process for the wireless transmission of process data in a dental laboratory by means of a stationary transmitter and a portable receiver. In particular, the process data come from dental apparatuses, such as, for example, a firing kiln. The present invention also concerns a system for carrying out the process.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Several production processes are usually operated in a dental laboratory at the same time by one dental technician. For this purpose, a dental laboratory usually has several work stations, which can be utilized by a dental technician for carrying out individual production steps. Operated at the work stations are typically firing kilns, wax melting apparatuses, composite photocuring apparatuses, electroplating apparatuses, steam jets, sterilization equipment, casting apparatuses, preheating ovens, thorough firing ovens, pressing ovens, or CAD/CAM milling apparatuses. To an increasing extent, these apparatuses permit a process to be conducted automatically, so that the physical presence of the dental technician at the work station during the automated phases can be dispensed with. During this time, the dental technician can dedicate himself to a parallel production process at a different work station. However, it is often necessary for the dental technician to monitor the automated operation in order to intervene in the process in the event of problems or in order to continue the production process. To this end, it is necessary for the dental technician to check the process data of work stations. Depending on the organization and size of a dental laboratory, it can happen that the individual work stations that the dental technician utilizes when carrying out several production processes in parallel cannot be monitored in a straightforward manner without the necessity of visiting the work station to be monitored.
The means of presenting process data in the dental laboratory, particularly in the case of vacuum kilns, has been known for a long time. In terms of design, they consist essentially of photodiodes and alphanumeric or graphical display screens and are connected directly to the vacuum kilns as an integral component of the control. Large displays are used in order to make the process data easier to perceive from a relatively long distance. Also known is the display of the process data that is most important for the operator at the highest point of the kiln by means of displays.
A drawback in all of these solutions is the fact that the operator always has to have visual contact with the apparatus in order to perceive the current process data. In the case that visual contact is not possible, because the dental technician is present at another work station, the dental technician has to establish visual contact by moving to the work station to be monitored. In this way, valuable work time of the dental technician is consumed on the paths between the work stations. Furthermore, it can occur that the monitoring makes it necessary for the dental technician to move so often to the work station to be monitored that the parallel performance of another operating step in another production process is prevented. Finally, it can occur that the dental technician does not recognize in time that an intervention in an automated process is necessary on his part, because he is not able to establish visual contact with the work station to be monitored in a timely manner. During the monitoring, therefore, the strived-for parallel performance of several production processes in the dental laboratory is impaired so much by the necessary visual contact with the apparatus to be monitored that only a small number of production processes can be operated in parallel by an individual dental technician.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to provide a process that makes it possible for the dental technician to carry out a large number of parallel production processes in a rational and reliable manner, with a monitoring of several work stations being possible even when the dental technician does not have the display devices of these apparatuses in view.
Furthermore, the object of the invention is to provide a system that is suitable for carrying out the process in accordance with the invention.
The invention solves the objects indicated by way of a process and a system or device that exhibit the characteristics of the claims.